 BUS passengers will be refunded by travel vouchers and may even have taxi fares paid for if their service runs late, it was revealed today. In a pilot scheme, Travel West Midland passengers using the busy 377 route between Walsall and Sutton Coldfield will be offered vouchers if their journey is delayed by more than 15 minutes. Refunds for taxis will be paid in some circumstances when a bus is more than an hour late or if a wheelchair user cannot get on a vehicle. The scheme will be rolled out to several other routes across Birmingham and the Black Country in the next few months. It follows a groundbreaking deal between the region's biggest bus company and passenger transport body Centro-WMPTA. The aim is to encourage more people to abandon their cars in favour of buses. Coun Gary Clarke, chairman of Centro-WMPTA, said: "It's all about putting the passenger first." The new 377 service was being unveiled in Walsall today and Coun Clarke said: "It is designed to meet passenger demands for more frequent services that are safe, affordable, clean and accessible. "It's all about Centro-WMPTA working in close partnership with Travel West Midlands and we hope to encourage more people to go by bus. "That in turn will cut the congestion that is already costing our regional economy more than £2 billion a year. It will also help reduce carbon dioxide emissions." The new and improved route will also see eight refurbished single decker buses helping to increase the frequency of buses at peak times from every 20 minutes to 12 minutes. Twenty bus shelters along the route have been replaced by Centro-WMPTA with the rest undergoing refurbishment. Dedicated cleaning teams will also aim to respond to graffiti and damage to shelters within 24 hours. From March there will be electronic information boards in bus stops and passengers will be able to access text message alerts on some bus routes. Neil Barker, acting chief executive of Travel West Midlands, added: "The refurbished vehicles on the upgraded 377 route will help us achieve our aim of making travel simpler with low floor, easy access buses, great for shopping trips to Walsall and Sutton Coldfield." Several other routes will be be upgraded in coming months. They are the No 1 service between Acocks Green and the Five Ways roundabout, the 451 from Sutton Coldfield to West Bromwich, the 934 city centre to Doe Bank route, the 993 city centre to Kingstanding route and the 997 city centre to Walsall route. The news comes after the Birmingham Mail held a bus survey which showed that 52.9 per cent of passengers found unreliability a big turn off to using public trransport.
| 
